Using the Sociological Perspective of Trust to Assess the Trust-Control Interplay : Evidence from the International Cooperation Sector

This paper introduces the sociological perspective of trust as a method theory to study the interaction between trust and control in inter-organizational relationships. Building on the extensive research tradition on this topic, I identify two main problems in the literature: the theoretical ambitions of trust-control research remain limited to applying trustworthiness perspectives to specific inter-organizational scenarios and the framing of the trust-control interplay in terms of substitution or complementarity. Using the sociological perspective of trust, I surpass these limitations by positing that a qualitative mix of cognitions and emotions determines trust and its relationship with technocratic control. I assess these ideas through a case study in the international cooperation sector. The evidence suggests that trust and technocratic control have a dynamic relationship characterized by co-creation and mutual reinforcement along the different stages of an inter-organizational relationship. These dynamics result from the continuous rearrangement of trust’s constitutive dimensions, emotions, and cognitions, which call for specific control mechanisms